LP Review: "Crown" by Axioma

Crown

In the past, a friend of mine asked me to lend my critical ear to his friend's nephew's band who was starting to gain some traction.

They were a very talented group, but their album lacked any identity. Instead of it being overly the same, it overly different.

That was what not to do in order to make your name.

Cleveland's Axioma didn't do that...well not exactly.

The amount of variety on this record is staggering, but there's nary a drop of who is this?

Axioma's debut album is a full on stamp of who they are as a band. What they stand for and the kind of music they make is apparently whatever they damned well feel like at that precise moment.

In order to do this well, one has to have a musical signature. There aren't any techniques here to make a stand behind, but when they dive in and out of nearly every single metal style, they it never sounds like they're someone else.

Axioma may still be settling on a style, or their style may be a complete and utter lack of a style. We can't know yet, due to the small sample size, but it's going to be interesting to see where they go from here.

RELEASE 6/26/19 PREORDER FACEBOOK

LP Review: "Take The Stairs To Hell" by Cable

Take The Stairs To Hell

Welcome back old friend.

That's what I would be saying if Cable had ever been inside of my orbit, but don't let my ignorance deflate any of the joy you might be having at the New Englanders returning after a ten year absence.

It took no time at all for Cable to sink their hooks into me. (Pun intended.)

Throughout this record, they balance between sludge and extreme metal, but they never lose the songs.

Never is there an attempt to be the heaviest, the fastest, or the most technical. Honestly, there weren't even any guitar solos that stuck out in my mind.

What makes that exceptionally odd is that extreme metal is my favorite genre, first and foremost, because of the guitar solos. The whole group locks into an emotion and then they shake the buildings.

Heavy is good, fast is great, and kick ass guitar solos are the best, but none of those accolades will mean a single thing if the tracks aren't awesome.

If Cable's version of the underworld is accurate, I won't be taking the stairs to hell, but falling down them in order to get my ticket punched even faster.

RELEASE 7/26/19 PREORDER 

Split LP Review: "SPLIT" by Coltsblood and Un

Split

As a blogger, my personal opinions factor largely into what I cover.

As it was before, it is now, there are several bands, labels, etc that always catch my eye.

So, when scrambling to write, it's not uncommon to head back to those particulars to see what is available.

Translation Loss Records  is releasing another album by Un. Now this catches my attention. So, I pull out the email, boot up the promo and see that it's not an album, but listed as an EP.

Oh, it's also a split, with Un on the back end. This other band is leading the charge... Coltsblood? Dunno them.

I've listened to this split several times at this point, the first time, it was all about getting to that Un track, but more and more, Coltsblood is really growing on me. Both bands delivered twenty minute PLUS song. Based on quantity of songs, we're looking at a AA Single, but this is a full length record.

Coltsblood...they're doomy, but a bit more vivacious and attacking than our good friends from Seattle. This is probably the best match split I've heard in my life. The bands go together so very well.

Just go ahead and check this one out....

RELEASE ORDER COLTSBLOOD UN

LP Review: "Sentiment" by Un

Un

Let's get things in the open. The Tomb of All Things absolutely kicked my ass upon its release and it's been in regular rotation for me. But it's been almost three years since we'd heard it. What's new since then?

Well, Un did a tour and stopped in St. Louis.

What they didn't mention, but it was kind of assumed, is that there was a new album on the horizon. Back in June, we weren't event thinking about September. As Summer dies and morphs into the dying world of Autumn, so will Sentiment be unloosed into our world.

The style is much the same. The songs are exceedingly long and depressing. The vocals are still harsh, yet sad. The guitars seem a bit fuzzier to my ears, but the time and distance may be confusing me. On first glance, it would seen that Un has chosen to not reinvent the wheel.

The second glance is the one that counts though. You'll see it more clearly once you get to the beginning of side two and it's confirmed at the end of side two how things are changing. There's even a rapid little section in that song.... Pools of Reflection. It's also song two.

Un is releasing a double LP with only four songs on it....ballsy.

Out: 9/28/18 PRE-ORDER FACEBOOK

LP Review: "It's Hard To Have Hope" by Svalbard

It's Hard To Have Hope

It's becoming a mission of mine to get my daughter into eating Asian foods of some variety. I've gotten her to agree to try a Chinese Buffet.

It's not my personal favorite Asian food, but one of my all time great loves is Chinese food. Honestly, I'm not as well versed in the authentic fare as I should be, but the stuff they serve in restaurants here is a really wonderful thing.

To the best of my knowledge we don't have any Vietnamese, Thai, or Japanese buffets here in St. Louis. My daughter is horribly picky and eats with her eyes, so a buffet is necessary so she can try each thing.

Buffet restaurants are interesting things. Say what you want, but as a parent to a picky child eater and the husband to a very picky eater, they're kind of a godsend....

DLP Review: "Devoured" by Amarok

Devoured

Last year I finally read Shogun by James Clavell.

Folks who are about my age may recall the mini-series TV event, but won't remember it terribly well without having revisited it.

It's hard to believe, as a card carrying otaku, that I hadn't read this novel or seen the mini-series, but here we are.

The novel is based around a Englishman who sailed from the Netherlands to South America and then on to, as they called them, The Japans.

It's hard to conceptualize their voyage in our highly connected age. These men climbed aboard sailing vessels armed only with incomplete maps and sextants. In those days, sea travel was perilous. Most of the men who set off on that voyage died.

LP Review: "IV" by Grayceon

IV

About a month ago, while my daughter was helping me prepare dinner, she said to me...

Daddy did you know that my favorite people in rock and metal are boys?

Now, as she's a 100% Daddy's Girl, it was clear what she was trying to do. She was saying, see Daddy, I love you so much that I love people who look like you too.

I did what any loving father should be do after he saw that his daughter didn't have heroes that look like her...

We spent the next 30 minutes going through my phone, youtube, and whatever busting out the best women in hard rock and heavy metal. As an American White Male, there are no shortage of heroes who look like me.

LP Review: "META" by YLVA

META

It came to my attention recently that my record library and listening to those glorious slabs spinning is my mental floss.

Most days of my life, there is a song in my ear at all times.

The difference is that when it's at work, in the car, or even at a concert, it's a different experience than being at home and watching the rotations of vinyl.

Perhaps it's because this is when I'm listening to full albums front to back and track by track.

There's something a bit magical doing that, especially when it's by masters of the format like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, etc. Sadly, front to back albums isn't as much of a thing as it once was.

Certainly there is a time and a place for everything, but there is something that's wonderful about sitting in a room without a TV connection and listening to music.

LP Review: "The Tides Will Prevail" by Kenoma

The Tides Will Previal

There have been a great many instrumental records reviewed on this particular website, because this guy right here is a fan of instrumental music.

Long have I wondered why it's loved by such a relatively small number of people in the world. There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

There have been many artists, like Jimi Hendrix himself, whose concerts were largely instrumental and other artists, like Ahab or Dakhma, whose albums are largely instrumental.

Why is it so hard to move forward from 89% instrumental, to wholly devoid of lyrics?

Though, I'm a fan, it's easy to see why some people don't enjoy the works of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, or even John 5. Even some instrumental musicians have told why they don't like those particular artists. It's a small club I suppose....or a small series of clubs?

Hard to say really.